As Pam and I were walking into Walmart I made a decision to look at as many individuals as I could, eye to eye, and communicate love. Through produce, seasonings, meat, and frozen fruit I did my best to look people in the face and smile. There were a few friendly, Hellos. When we got to the checkout I remembered how impersonal and detached the experience can be. Pam left me to wait in line while she went to grab another item.
A young woman with daughters about 4 and 7 came to wait in the line behind me. I thought, “How can I love these people?” and reached for some words. I told her that she had sweet children. The younger one coyly, shyly started to warm up to me. I told her we were new in town and asked her where they liked to go out to eat. She gave a couple suggestions. I asked if she went to church because we are looking for a church to plant ourselves. She had not been to church in a long time.
She asked what we were doing in town and I shared a bit about our relationship with the Bellas and Israel. I told her that we love the Lord Jesus and want to share Him with others. She was warming up. The face with too many downward creases started to smile. I looked deep into her eyes and with all the warmth and sincerity I could flow in said, “It’s all about Jesus.”
Pam came back and began to engage the woman. She told us where her husband worked and that they came from Oregon. We were able to banter about our experiences in Oregon. Pam said, “It’s so nice to meet someone from home! May I give you a hug!” She openly received Pam’s love.
I began engaging the checker, saying, “Melissa is a pretty name. It goes well with a pretty person.” She brightened. Pam rounded out the conversation with the woman behind us. As we were leaving I noticed that she began to “pass it on” as she began to talk in a friendly way to the woman in line behind her.
It seems that people will have a smaller step to believe God loves them when they see that we do.
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
Steven C Johnson
Landing Strip Enterprise
I DON’T SEEM TO RECOGNIZE YOUR FACE
” I don’t seem to recognize your face.”
The butterfly, like the cross and fish was an early symbol of the Christian faith. Talk about total makeover, only a very imaginative God can see the caterpillar and butterfly as related.
I often remind myself when I meet someone that I must look deep beyond the face to know who that person is. Faces change with time, and sometimes by accident. The book cover can be worn or torn.
CS Lewis wrote a book called, “Till we have Faces.” I remind myself during conversations that ultimately the person who I am speaking with is not yet bequeathed with their final face – the face they will wear after the coming of Jesus, the resurrection and judgment.
I have often looked at an elderly saint whose face was contoured with wrinkles and marked with age spots and heard the Lord say, “I make everything beautiful in its time!”
Our faces today are outward packaging. But a day is coming when we will see our true faces. Until then we remember the Lord looks at the heart. So should we.
Steve Johnson
Landing Strip Enterprises
THE PERILS OF COMPARISON
THE PERILS OF COMPARISON
“When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise (2 Cor 10:12b NIV)
One of two things tends to happen when we compare ourselves with others:
Either we judge others out of our strengths and see them as inferior
Or we judge others out of our weakness and depreciate ourselves.
Perhaps the Lord warned us about judging because of our disposition to compare. Perhaps we are not as competent to evaluate others as we think. Perhaps we are a tad underqualified to sit in God’s seat of judgment.
Certainly, we must make moral judgments to navigate life in society but we should tremble, just a bit, when we pay the comparison game.
Steven C Johnson
Landing Strip Enterprises
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK. LEAVE A COMMENT!
CAMP BARKLEY/IRIS MINISTRIES
[The photos are of Steve taking in the view from Camp Barkley, our bunkhouse, the overgrown rifle range and of Pam at the Mess.]
There are interesting twists and turns in life. The housing we anticipated having in Abilene was given to another missionary couple while we were traveling to Texas. Like Elijah, a 90 year old widow met our needs by opening a room to us and to our dogs Tucker and Jack. We felt honored to share the home of a woman that is a strong intercessor. We had great fellowship and a roof over our head but it could not be permanent.
A week ago we visited with Norman and Angel Poorman who we met in Israel in 2012. They own 1000 acres that were formerly part of the WWII Camp Barkley. We got a tour of the property on the high back seats of a Safari Jeep. What a powerful experience to learn of so many miracles that lead to the purchase of the property! Dreams and visions and audible voices have given details for the process of “recommissioning” the property to raise up soldiers for Jesus! They are linking with Iris Ministries, Bethel Church and the Israel Prayer Mission.
Most deeply impressive was learning that soldiers from Camp Barkley were in Germany to liberate Jews from the Nazi death camps! A book could be written, should be written, on the miracles that have been part of the reactivation of this Camp. We trust that the Camp may equip others to be part of Yeshua’s war of liberation for the Jewish people and all the Nations.
The Poormans graciously have allowed us to stay at one of the bunk houses as we continue our process of settling here. We have enjoyed encouraging the students who are in the housing next to us.
We are meeting new people and visiting churches. We are learning the lay of the land and doing the many practical things that are part of a move. Leonardo and I are working on a book on overcoming strongholds that prevent Israeli Jews from embracing Yeshua. The material will be used in future workshops.
Your prayers are certainly welcome to give us grace and guidance for this exciting and often tiring transition.
Steve and Pam Johnson
Landing Strip Enterprises
WANDERING INTO HIS PERFECT WILL
Many have joked that for forty years Moses’ wife nagged him to pull over for directions. Father Abraham may have also been challenged by Sarah to pull into a gas station to get steered right. Many others in scripture found themselves wandering – wandering into the perfect will of God.
There are times when we truly seek to follow God but are unsure of our course. In those moments of perplexity, and seeking, we trust must more in the capacity of God to guide us than our ability to make out the map.
Sometimes the leading of the Holy Spirit looks like wandering. Perhaps the time of temptation in the wilderness felt to Jesus more like confusion than being “led by the Spirit in the desert” (Luke 4:1).
In every believer’s life there are wanderings. Patriarchs were nomadic but they were on track.
If your spiritual GPS doesn’t seem to be getting a signal today be filled with peace. Yes, keep asking and believing for guidance, but know the sense of wandering is part of the curriculum for those proven by the Lord!
Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things. Ps 107:4-9 (NIV)
Steven C Johnson
Landingstripenterprises
WHEN THE HOUSE MOVES
In June of 1999 I was working moving houses. It was big, challenging and dangerous. You didn’t want to end up like the wicked witch of the East. We put steel beams under houses and pumped them up with jacks. We cross braced them as they rose with stacks of timber, put wheels under them and pulled them down the road.
We were pulling a big three bedroom, two story house down the streets of Yakima, Washington. I would drive behind the house in a truck and occasionally get out to steer the back wheels on the house to navigate corners. Sometimes I would be on the roof lifting power lines. As I drove behind with my windows down I would watch people on the sidewalks and listen to their comments.
“It’s so big!”
“That’s a real mobile home!”
“Look the curtains are blowing.”
“Who would think you’d see a house coming down the street?”
“The Pizza is supposed to come to the house not the other way around.”
People would get on their phones and call their friends down the road, “Mable, you need to come out and see this. There is a house coming down the road!” Old and young would come out, gawk and add their commentaries.
As I was driving behind this parade, observing the people and overhearing their exchanges I was blindsided by an experience I could not have predicted. I suddenly found tears streaming down my face. I’m certain I was the only one weeping during this expedition. I asked myself, “What is this?” then realized I was watching a parable.
My spirit was hearing the Spirit of God saying that a day is coming, and is now upon us, when the world will come out to watch and marvel because the static, predictable Church is up and moving big and bold!
When a house sits ridged on its foundation it is camouflaged in immobility. People drive by obliviously. But when the house moves down the road they take notice! Let’s remember that Jesus is the Church’s foundation and that Jesus is always on the move! Let’s move with Him that the world may notice!
Steven C Johnson
Landing Strip Enterprises
PREPARING FOR WONDERS
Pam and I were reading Joshua 3 recently. Just this morning we were in church where that chapter was the source of the message. It is the account of the nation crossing over the Jordan River to possess the land. They were breaking barriers of faith in that transition! The river dried up before them and a fresh batch of miracles began.
The pastor at the church we visited said, “When we sanctify ourselves God does wonders.” The basis for this is in Joshua 3:5; “Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.’”
Pam and I are reconsecrating ourselves as we cross over once again to a new place, a new chapter in our pilgrimage. Our home was sold in Sevierville, TN. We seriously lightened ship by selling and giving away things. We are now visiting daughters in Chattanooga.
Our next little jog will be to double back to the SC coast to vacation with all three daughters as well as Brian and his wife Rebekah. We were so excited yesterday to discover the child Rebekah is carrying is a Boy, James!
The second week in January we will be pulling our trailer, crammed to the gills, into Abilene, TX. I wonder how the people in Joshua’s day answered the question, “What are you going to do in the Promised Land?” They only had inklings of their future. I suppose it’s the same for us.
We have our ideas of what tomorrow holds but are being careful not to presume too much. A first priority will be to find a strong sense of Christian community – meeting our neighbors, finding Christian fellowships, developing relationships which are essential for doing life and ministry.
Thanks for sending up a prayer for us today. We know that working with our friends the Bellas and the Israel Prayer Mission will be a big piece of what we do in Abilene. Steve will also be continuing his writing, voicing audio books and looking for ways to let the Light Shine for Jesus.
Bless you with whatever crossing over you are doing in the New Year. As you consecrate yourself to God watch for the wonders!
Steven C Johnson
https://landingstripenterprises.com/
LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS
Astronomers know the best time to star-gaze is at night. Painters know darkness provides contrast for the light. Light shining in darkness is a theme of the prophet Isaiah. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).
If you’ve traveled much by air you’ve probably taken off in a dark, cloudy environment, broken the canopy of clouds and been met by radiant light. I love those experiences! They remind me that whatever the darkness, there is Light unwavering above it all.
“The glory of the Lord shone all around them.” Those shepherds must have looked like deer trapped in a car’s headlights. One does not plan for a multitude of heavenly angels irradiating the darkened pasture.
In Christ that which is Above-It-All comes down to us! Later, the baby, grown to be a man, declares, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
The next time He comes more than a few shepherds will witness it. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1Thes 4:16).
“Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble….”
Steven C Johnson
https://landingstripenterprises.com/
LOOKING BACK ON THE SECOND COMING
Do you think the second coming of Jesus Christ will be celebrated annually, perhaps like Christmas?
We might even look backwards on our Lord’s second coming and call it Christmas #2 since the name Christmas, a Mass in honor of Christ, may be used generically.
Jesus gloriously broke the bonds of death about AD 31. Wouldn’t it be “interesting” if He returned in 2029, two thousand years after his ascension? The Sabbath Millennia? Of course He may come before or after. Just thinking – and praying.
A multitude of heavenly hosts heralded His first coming. Apparently they will be there for the round two.
The last prayer of the church is the prayer of a pining bride; “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” Pam and I have kept our wedding photos. Will we be pulling out the photos annually as we remember the Great Day of the Lord, the Wedding of the Lamb?
Just Wondering
Then the angel said to me,
“Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'”
And he added, “These are the true words of God” (Rev 19:9).
Steven C Johnson
CHRISTMAS HISTORY
In AD 330 Constantine had a church built in the town of Bethlehem over the spot where Jesus was allegedly born. Generations of pilgrims have traveled there. The earliest history we have of a Christmas celebration comes in the 4th century.
Those responsible for our modern calendar set the zero year to mark the day of Christ’s coming. Unfortunately their calculations were off, so curiously, Jesus was born 4 to 5 years “Before Christ”
Christmas is celebrated as a season by some but for Christians the “fleshing out” of God into man is the festival not of a day but of a life-time.
“Long, long ago in a far away place” sounds like words to begin a fairy tale. But God did indeed visit earth about 2017 years ago.
“Mild He lays His glory by. Born that man no more may died, Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give us second birth.”
That’s good news, my friend!
Steven C Johnson
https://landingstripenterprises.com
